Star Trek: Production
by Hideout Writer
Summary: When a young warlock has trouble finding a regular job while still following the rules of magic, he decides to ignore the rules and chase after his dream at the same time. Mild swearing possible, so T for safe-T
1. Chapter 1

**Star Trek: Production, a behind the scenes view of the process that has brought Star Trek: Exodus from the pages of a fan fiction archive on the internet to the small screen. This story is written by Hideout Writer, with the permission of RobertCanary, the creator of Star Trek: Exodus. Star Trek is owned by Paramount Studios, and any recognizable names belong to whoever they belong to. This writer is simply fooling around on the keyboard, making no profit from this venture.**

**Everything depicted here is fictional, and bears little to no account on real life. With that in mind, please enjoy this story.**

The young man was twenty years old, and looking for work. One would think that practitioners of magic should be able to find work a bit easier than this, but it couldn't be helped. The rules were the rules, and he had to abide by them. At least he was able to keep food in his stomach, and stay warm at night. The same couldn't be said for an unfortunate number of others who existed in the dark places in the cities.

With a sigh, he sat down at the computer, and went to fan fiction. He had met someone online who was writing some Star Trek stories, two of which currently used characters he had created. In the dark recesses of his mind, an idea began to form, and after kicking it around, he decided to chase it. The idea was simple: produce Star Trek: Exodus as a television series.

He sent an email with an arcane tracer in it, and waited. Twelve seconds later, he pulled out a world map, and picked up a small crystal on a chain. He swung the chain several times, to get the rhythm going, and then swung it over the map. He methodically swept the area, and came upon California. He went to his collection of state maps, and performed the search again. This led to an even closer map, which showed major streets. Pulling up Google maps, he printed out a page, and circled one final time. The crystal landed on a street address, and he entered the query on the computer. Once he had a solid image of where he wanted to be, he closed his eyes and concentrated.

For several brief moments, he saw the universe, in it's entirety, before his vision became distorted. When it cleared again, he was near the street. He was half a mile away, hidden under an arrival cloak, designed to hide his appearance. It would quickly dissipate as he left his landing spot, so he waited for a moment, conjuring a Starfleet jacket from the _Voyager_ era of Star Trek, and a black fedora. The jacket was obviously not standard Starfleet, as the shoulders were a stunning shade of emerald green. The black slacks and shoes were already Federation uniform-compliant, and he began walking, casting a minor notice-me-not so that people wouldn't notice him appearing out of nowhere.

He was approaching the address when his notice-me-not charm finished fading away, though nobody really seemed to take any greater notice of him.

At his knock, the door opened after a few seconds. His head was bowed slightly, to keep the rain from dripping down the back of his shirt, and he imagined that he looked somewhat dangerous.

"Can I help you?" he asked warily.

"Yes, I'm looking for RobertCanary?"

"That's me." came the reply. "Please just call me Robert though."

"Very well. My name is Alex, though I've also been known as Hideout Writer, you are using a few of my characters, specifically, Amaranth, Ajax, and Stratton Briggs." Alex said.

"You might as well come in, it's cold out here." Robert said.

"Thank you." Alex replied, entering.

They sat down in a comfortable living room, and Robert turned to Ajax. "So, what is it you want?" he asked.

"Well, I'm looking to turn 'Exodus' into a TV show, with your permission, of course." Alex replied.

Robert's eyebrows went up. "Okay…" he said, drawing out the word. "How do you intend to do that?"

Alex shrugged noncommittally. "Magic." he replied carelessly.

"You can do magic?" came an excited voice.

Alex and Robert turned to look at the newcomer. "Now is not the time." Robert said gently. "Daddy is in a very important meeting right now."

Alex smiled at the youngster, and casually conjured a flower, which he handed to the child. "Run along now." he said, before turning back to Robert. "I intend to produce one season, and deliver it to Paramount, at one quarter the standard price for a season, as a trial. If they like it, we can continue. If not, I'll be forced to find another project to work on."

"What's your budget?" Robert asked.

"Unrestricted." Alex replied. "I've got the ability to come up with working props at a moment's notice. Basically, you'll be the main writer, with me occasionally doing scenes, but for the most part, I'll be directing and producing."

"So…what do you need?" Robert asked.

"Your permission, for starters." Alex said, opening a slim leather file case. He shuffled through the papers for a moment. "Ah, here we go. If you would simply sign here and here. This is your copy, and this is my copy, for legal purposes in the unlikely event of a disagreement between us."

"Unlikely is right." Robert muttered.

"As far as I'm concerned, this is your thing." Alex said. "I'm just doing the heavy lifting. I might write a few scenes, but when it comes down to it, you make the decisions."

"Here I thought I was signing this over to you." Robert chuckled.

"Hardly." Alex scoffed. "I'm doing this as a way to have a job. If it works, I'll be able to get some money out of it, if not," he shrugged. "Better luck next time. Besides, you're the one who started this. I'm just working along side you."

"Works for me." Robert replied, shaking Alex's hand.

"Do me a favor." Alex replied, smiling. "Don't hold back because of me. I want it to look better than the original Star Trek shows."

"I understand." Robert replied, smiling in return.

"Oh, and one more thing…do you want to be a character in Exodus?" Alex asked as he packed his things.

"Are you kidding?" Robert asked. "I'd love to."

"Who?" Alex answered.

"Zeb Macahan." Robert answered.

Alex nodded. "Very well. I want a full write-up for Zeb Macahan, including a picture of the person you would have cast for Zeb. That's all the way from head to toe."

"I'll have it to you within a week." Robert promised.

"Thank you." Ajax replied. He put the fedora back on, and slowly turned to look at the child who he had handed the flower to. He nodded slightly, then touched two fingers to his forehead. A moment later, he had disappeared.

"That was strange…" Robert said. He shrugged, and filed away the contract agreement in a safe place.

_Scene_Break_

Alex reappeared in an alleyway near Paramount Studios, but didn't enter. In fact, he stood there for several minutes, thinking about what he planned to do.

"Who're you?" a gruff voice asked.

Alex slowly turned around, his head still bowed to keep the rain from getting under his clothes. "I'm nobody you need to worry about…" he said, his voice slurred and spaced out.

"How much money you got, fancy-pants?" the voice asked, a sneer mixing with the gruff tone.

"Not enough for you to get a breath-mint." Alex replied. "Which you really, desperately, need. Goodbye." he said, his voice suddenly crisp.

"Oh, no. You aren't going anywhere." with that, the owner of the voice stepped into view. He was rough, and anybody could tell he was bad news. "Yer gonna give me that nice jacket of yours, and I might let you go free."

Alex smiled. "Good luck with that, stranger."

The roughneck pulled a rather large handgun, and Alex's hands went up. "That's what I thought." the roughneck smiled. His eyes narrowed as Alex didn't raise his right hand all the way, instead, two fingers touched his forehead, and just like that, he was gone, without a trace.

Alex appeared in his living room, and got out his maps, zeroing in on the northern regions of Europe. He obtained a local location, though not as precise, but chose not to pursue it, instead, he returned to his computer. The clock indicated that it was late, approximately nine thirty in the evening. Any contact he wished to find in Northern Europe would have been asleep. He opened a word document, and began putting together a character profile. Having written with the character for quite a while, Alex found the task easy to do, and had the profile completed and polished by ten.

He printed it out, and found a fresh manila folder. On the front, he stenciled the name 'Amaranth' as well as such terms as 'for production use'.

One of the pages was a full page picture, printed on glossy photograph paper. In the picture, an emerald green dragon was landing on a small hill, it's head somewhat turned to face the point of perspective. The colors of the sky indicated that the sun was setting, though it was behind the perspective. The sunlight created a dazzling sparkle effect on the scales of the dragon. Somehow, despite the presence of the dragon, the entire scene appeared to be peaceful.

Alex smiled as he placed the various pages into the manila folder, then placed the folder in the leather file case. With plans for the next day already whirling through his mind, Alex retired to his bedroom for a good night's sleep.

_A/N: It is my hope that this idea…this story, will be well-received by it's target audience. I'm placing this under Harry Potter, because of the magic, but it's not really gone into very much. As for Star Trek, this went to TNG because…Star Trek, that's why._


	2. Chapter 2

**Star Trek: Production, a behind the scenes view of the process that has brought Star Trek: Exodus from the pages of a fan fiction archive on the internet to the small screen. This story is written by Hideout Writer, with the permission of RobertCanary, the creator of Star Trek: Exodus. Star Trek is owned by Paramount Studios, and any recognizable names belong to whoever they belong to. This writer is simply fooling around on the keyboard, making no profit from this venture.**

**Everything depicted here is fictional, and bears little to no account on real life. With that in mind, please enjoy this story.**

His sleep, as usual, was not disturbed by dreams, and he arose at six. Three minutes later, he was gone. He found himself near a peaceful little cottage, with very little civilization nearby. A quick check of his local maps confirmed that while the cottage appeared to be in a well-tended paradise, the rest of civilization was only ten minutes away by car. He walked up to the door, and knocked three times.

The door opened, and a man peeked out. He rattled off in Swedish, and Alex blinked. "Uh, I don't understand…" he said. "English?"

The man rattled on a slight bit more, then said "Why are you here?"

"I'm looking for Anette Olzon, former lead singer for Nightwish." Alex replied. "Is she here?'

The man's eyes narrowed. "What do you want with her?" he asked. His English was heavily accented, and it took a brief moment for Alex to understand.

"I have an offer for her." Alex replied, swinging the leather case around to the front. He opened it, and pulled out the Amaranth file.

"Very well. If I ask you to leave, will you do so right away?"

"I will leave right away when asked." Alex promised.

"Come." the man led Alex into the cottage, to where Anette was laying on the couch.

"What is this?" she asked, her eyes taking stock of the situation at once.

"I'm working on creating a TV show." Alex said, holding the file out to Anette. "I wanted to cast you for the character of Amaranth…with your permission?"

Anette accepted the proffered file, and began reading it. When the glossy photograph fell out, Alex picked it up for her, so she wouldn't have to move, and handed it back to her. She smiled slightly, then finished reading the file.

When she was done, she put everything back, and handed the file back to Alex. "I would be lying if I said I wasn't interested." she said softly. "However, as you can see, I will not be returning to the stage for some time. The same goes for being on a set."

Ajax dipped his head sharply. "I understand." he said. "I was actually just hoping to get a full picture of you, instead of the hundreds of thousands of headshots on Google."

"What for?" Anette questioned. "Are you a stalker?"

"Hardly." Alex replied. "I am a skilled user of magic though."

She was about to turn to her guard when Alex reached into his pocket, and came up with a small thorn.

"Here." he said. "Would you like for me to prove my claim?"

"Certainly." Anette answered. "If you can't, you will leave."

The guard started moving closer, but Alex just breathed deeply, then muttered something. The thorn glowed, and began growing, becoming a single red rose. He held it out for Anette. "Proof positive." he said softly.

She looked at the rose, then back to Alex, and back at the rose again. "How…?" she said at last.

"Magic, like I said." Alex replied.

"How does my picture play into this?" Anette asked, picking up the rose.

"It goes into the profile." Alex replied. "I can then superimpose the contents of the profile onto the actor playing the part of Amaranth."

"So…someone else would be…in essence, wearing, my body?" Anette asked, her eyes half shut in concentration.

"While on set, yes." Alex replied. "Off-set, they would return to being themselves. This would prevent the danger of someone deciding to do things you would be highly unlikely to do, while in your body."

Anette thought about it, and the guard moved in closer, ready to escort Alex back out.

"I agree." she said at last. "So long as there is a legal contract that states that the actress will only be looking like me while on set."

"I happen to have such a contract here." Alex replied, pulling out three documents. "This is the contract, in duplicate. I'll need your guard to sign as the witness."

Anette signed, then the guard did the same. "Jared, could you find a picture that would be appropriate?" she asked.

Jared nodded, and walked out, leaving Alex and Anette alone.

"I must admit," she started, smiling. "This was the most creative way I have ever seen to get a photo and an autograph."

Alex smiled softly. "If you are interested in this sort of thing, you can look for the show this fall. It's called Star Trek: Exodus."

"I may just have to look that up." Anette smiled. "Thank you for not being star-struck. It's pleasantly refreshing to not have someone falling over themselves in my presence."

Alex snorted softly. "That was the easy part. The hard part will be boldly going into Paramount Studios headquarters, and asking for permission to do this."

"Really? Why is that?" Jared asked, returning with a picture. "Will this do?"

Alex gave it a cursory glance, enough to see that it would be perfect for what he needed, and nodded. "Yes, thank you." he said. "as for why it will be hard is because Paramount is huge. While I'm relatively certain that my offer should be irresistible, the fact remains that they could shut me down at any stage of the way, in which case, I will return the picture, and seek out a new project to start. Have a nice day."

With that, Alex touched two fingers to his forehead, and vanished.

When he was solidly back within the confines of reality, Alex set down his file case on the table, and conjured a Star Trek tricorder. Armed with the ability to scan anything, he went out to the field in the rear, and began looking to see about the drainage field that he knew was probably hidden there. For nearly four years, he had searched without avail, but then, he hadn't truly tried before now.

Once it was flagged off, he considered building an underground studio, but then thought better of it.

Instead, he put out an ad, seeking a female, somewhere between the ages of eighteen to thirty.

=/\=

_A/N: Well, here's the second chapter. I'm having trouble getting the story to warm up for me, but I should start getting longer chapters soon. Now, if anyone has questions, comments, critiques, or their home is being invaded by turtles that know karate, let me know in a review!_

_And now for Responses to Readers:_

_RobertCanary: I agree, it is a little strange. It's not so bad for you though, you're just reading it. I'm actually using my first name in here as well, and I keep typing 'Ajax' instead of 'Alex'._


	3. Chapter 3

**Star Trek: Production, a behind the scenes view of the process that has brought Star Trek: Exodus from the pages of a fan fiction archive on the internet to the small screen. This story is written by Hideout Writer, with the permission of RobertCanary, the creator of Star Trek: Exodus. Star Trek is owned by Paramount Studios, and any recognizable names belong to whoever they belong to. This writer is simply fooling around on the keyboard, making no profit from this venture.**

**Everything depicted here is fictional, and bears little to no account on real life. With that in mind, please enjoy this story.**

The answer to his somewhat ambiguous ad came in the form of a police officer, who was in plainclothes.

"You must be Beth." Alex said, coming out to meet her.

"You are under arrest for attempting to procure the services of a prostitute." came the reply.

"Whoa, what?" Alex asked, shaking his head as if to clear it. "What _are_ you on about? I'm trying to start a TV show, and I wanted to bring some out-takes to Paramount, so they'd be less likely to shut me down."

"A TV show where you screw with cute girls?" Beth asked. "You can explain it at the station."

"Before you take me in, may I retrieve something, and lock up the house?" Alex asked.

"Fine." Beth replied. "But I'm coming with."

"Suit yourself." Alex replied. He picked up the file case, and rifled through it, checking to be sure everything was there.

The officer watched as he calmly locked the file case, and then the front door. "Lead the way." Alex said blandly.

Beth handcuffed him, and shoved him into the car, where he relaxed as best as he could.

=/\=

After he was processed, he was placed in a room that had two chairs and a metal table. A few moments later, a young man came in. "So, looking for a prostitute, huh?" he said, sitting across from Alex.

Alex smiled slightly. "No." he answered levelly. "As I told 'Beth', assuming that is her name, I'm trying to start up a TV show. I was going to audition her for the part of 'Amaranth'."

"Really?" came the reply. "Have you got anything that proves that?"

"Hmm, proof can be somewhat subjective, but I do have several pieces in relation to it." Alex replied. "Obviously, if you decide to lock me up for trying to buy sex, then you're going to lock me up. I can at least be open about things." he placed the file case on the table, so that the bronzed name plate was facing up.

"Project: Exodus." the cop read. "And what's that? Some sort of religious reference?"

Alex opened the case, and pulled out the two signed legal documents, as well as the profile for Amaranth. "See for yourself." he said. "I still need to put together a profile for Zeb Macahan, among others, but before I got too heavily invested, I wanted to do a couple outtakes to show to Paramount so that I could get a green light to use the Star Trek intellectual property and make profit by it."

The interrogating cop took a look at the various papers, then opened the file. After several minutes, he looked at Alex, and put everything back in the file case. "I'll need to get someone who understands legalese, but this looks to be in order. Wait here."

"I'm not going anywhere." Alex replied, smiling slightly.

After a few minutes, a lawyer came in, and Alex handed him the legal documents.

"Well, it's all legal, though it raises some interesting questions. How do you intend to make this work?" the lawyer asked.

"Magic." Alex replied.

The lawyer blinked, then turned to the cop who had come in the room with him. "Well, it's official: he's off the deep end, but since you can't prove that he was looking for a prostitute, you can't stick anything to him. Let him go, tail him for a bit, if you need to, but there's nothing here."

"None of this shows up on my record, right?" Alex asked. "I had a clean record, up until now, and I'd rather not have that messed up because I didn't word the advertisement right."

"No, it only goes on your record if you are actually convicted of a crime." the cop replied.

"Good enough for me." Alex replied brightly. "Don't worry, I've got no hard feelings. Uh…do I just show myself out?"

"You were brought here in the back of a cruiser. Unless you want to walk home, we can call a cab for you." the cop said. "We try not to make things too difficult for innocent people."

"I can walk." Alex replied dismissively.

"Suit yourself." the cop said, walking out.

The lawyer held out a hand, which Alex shook, then said "Good luck out there. Try to make your ads a bit better next time?"

"I will certainly bear that in mind." Alex replied, smiling. "Have a nice day." With that, he teleported away, leaving the lawyer to stand there in shock.

=/\=

When his feet were solidly out of the ether once more, Alex went to his computer, and checked for a response to his ad. Someone had responded, a petite young lady who had just finished college, and needed work. She had a degree in drama, so Alex decided to pursue the lead.

He briefly pulled out the file describing Amaranth, and spoke a few words. While their exact meanings and even pronunciation would have escaped the average person, it was obvious that they were words of binding and changing.

The file shimmered slightly, seeming to throw off the strange waves in the air that could be observed if the angle and temperature are right. Suddenly, it brightened for a moment, the light and shimmering faded away. All that was left of the file was a bracelet, made of delicately woven silver, with emeralds twinkling in various places on the bracelet. Alex smiled in approval at what he had wrought, and put the bracelet into the file case before departing again in his usual manner.

=/\=

_A/N: Alright people. Third chapter. This should suffice to get this thing off the ground and started…one can only hope that it doesn't stall out. Now, without further ado, if you have any questions, comments, or critiques, or have a number of scientific breakthroughs you've just made in your basement, leave a review, I'll be glad to hear from you!_

_Answers to Readers:_

_RobertCanary: Did you deliberately…no, of course that was on purpose. Obviously, Paramount will green-light the project. What would be the point in creating a story only to have it self-terminate so quickly? Beyond that…we'll see…later._

_Milton Perry: Off-the-wall is my specialty. They tried to thrash it out of me with dull book reports and orations back in school, but I'm still kicking! Paramount will be a very interesting game to play, and I look forward to it. As for what's after this…stay tuned._


	4. Chapter 4

**Star Trek: Production, a behind the scenes view of the process that has brought Star Trek: Exodus from the pages of a fan fiction archive on the internet to the small screen. This story is written by Hideout Writer, with the permission of RobertCanary, the creator of Star Trek: Exodus. Star Trek is owned by Paramount Studios, and any recognizable names belong to whoever they belong to. This writer is simply fooling around on the keyboard, making no profit from this venture.**

**Everything depicted here is fictional, and bears little to no account on real life. With that in mind, please enjoy this story.**

"Hello, Cameron?" Alex asked, approaching the petite blonde as she was about to enter her apartment.

"Yes, that's me. Are you the person who posted the ad for a female character?" Cameron replied.

"Yes." Alex replied simply.

"Come in then, and we'll talk. I have a few questions first before we get too far into this." she said, unlocking the door.

"Of course." Alex replied. He sat down on an ottoman that had seen better days, and watched as Cameron prepared tea.

"Nothing like warm tea to drive the chill away." she said, as the smell of Earl Grey wafted through the apartment.

"I find it easier to drink than coffee." Alex replied. "Even so, I tend to add copious amounts of sugar to it."

"More's the pity." Cameron replied, sitting down with her tea. She took a sip, and set the cup aside, then flicked her eyes up to meet Alex's eyes. There was a coy expression on her face. "Are you interested…" she paused to unbutton the top button of her shirt before continuing. "…in this?"

Alex smiled wryly. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested." he said. "But that's not what I'm here for."

"Don't you have a casting couch?" she pouted. "I want to leave you with…hmm…the right impression, shall we say."

"I believe you missed the part about 'that's not what I'm here for'." Alex replied. "As tempting as the offer is, no."

"Good." she said, buttoning the top button again. "I don't want to have to sell myself to get a part. For my next question, what position is my character?"

"You mean, as in main, supporting, recurring or guest?" Alex asked. "Hmm. I hadn't really thought of that one. Somewhere between supporting or recurring."

"Okay then. Tell me about this character then. I need to see if I can even properly get into the feel of this character." Cameron ordered.

Alex's eyebrows briefly jumped ever so slightly, and he relaxed a bit. "Well, for starters, her name is Amaranth."

"Hmm. Not an ordinary name." Cameron said, jotting down the name. "Anything more you can share?"

"She's a dragon." Alex answered, smiling.

"Well fuck you too." Cameron replied. "That means I don't get any time on camera. I'll just be in a studio, recording."

Ajax raised an eyebrow, attempting to imitate Spock. "Fascinating." he said quietly.

"That move was cornered by Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock on the Original Series of Star Trek." Cameron said. "I've got all the _Trek_ series, aside from Enterprise. I'm still missing season two."

"Well, if it helps any, the show is called Star Trek: Exodus." Alex replied. "And Amaranth does have a human form, so as to blend in with humanity better."

Cameron's eyebrows went up. "Really?" she said, drawing out the word. "Okay, so there's still studio time, but I'll be on-set. You can count me in."

Alex smiled. "I hoped you'd say that, however, there are some things we haven't touched on yet."

"Let me guess, it's a cartoon?" Cameron asked. "I don't care, it's Star Trek! I'm a big Star Trek fan."

"No, it isn't a cartoon." Alex assured her. "However, Paramount hasn't condoned any of this yet. If possible, I'd like to run a few out-takes first, before I breeze into their offices and pitch the idea. Are you willing to do a short scene?"

"Sure. Where will we be at?" Cameron asked.

"I could take you there if you'd like." Alex replied. "We could shoot the scene, and be back in half an hour."

"Alright." Cameron replied. "Hold on, I need to change my clothes, and touch up."

"Don't bother." Alex advised gently. "When you show up to work in this line of work, it's easier without make-up. Besides, what you're wearing now should be fine."

"If you say so." Cameron said. "Let's go."

For the briefest of moments, the pair saw the universe, as Alex had grabbed her hand before teleporting.

When they landed again, they were on a grassy knoll, with woods nearby.

"What. The hell. Was that?" Cameron demanded. "What are you?"

"I am a magician." Alex replied. "My method of travel is, as Seven would say, efficient."

"No kidding! Shall I assume we are close to where we'll be shooting, then?"

"Yes. In fact, you are standing where the scene takes place, on Earth-2."

"No freaking way! You do mean the duplicate Earth seen in the Original Series, right?"

"Yeah. You are actually still on Earth." Alex said. "Not the duplicate…I'm not that good."

"Darn."

"No, actually, that's a good thing, because Earth-2 has some sort of airborne thing that causes adult humans to age rapidly. Children remain children for…a really long time, but once they get to about fifteen or sixteen in terms of how old the appear to be…well, they age quickly after that." Alex explained. "Besides which, the Voth decided to colonize there."

Cameron nodded her understanding.

"Okay, so as you know, I'm a magician. That means that there will be a great deal of magic involved in what's done here, and I don't mean production magic." Alex said, holding out the bracelet he'd made earlier. "This is everything that makes up who and what Amaranth is."

"What does it do?" Cameron asked, accepting the bracelet.

"It changes you to match the character of Amaranth, physically and mentally. When you remove the bracelet, you will be back to yourself again." Alex explained.

"And there will be no bad side effects?" Cameron pressed.

"Well, it's entirely possible that some aspects of her character will imprint onto you, but probably not very much." Alex said. "I have a similar device that I've used off-and-on, for the character named Ajax, who is also starring in Exodus."

"Well," Cameron said bravely "Here goes…" and with that, she slipped the bracelet onto her wrist.

=/\=

_And with that, chapter four is here! I'll be posting five soon, so stay tuned for that. Uh...leave a message after the beep?_

_Answers to Reviewers:_

_RobertCanary: I try to approach things from a different stance than most people. If we were in the _Trek_ timeframe, we wouldn't have to worry about prostitute laws because we could go to Risa, where it's legal. Fortunately for a great number of women, we don't have any kind of FTL drives just yet. More's the pity, I'd like to leave this world and go explore strange new worlds._

=/\=

_...beep?_


	5. Chapter 5

The instant her hand came away from the bracelet, the air rippled around Cameron, and her clothing shifted, sparks of magic visibly dancing upon the fabric. Black cloth spread from her wrist, quickly obscuring the bracelet, and working it's way up. The short-sleeved shirt fused with the new material as it met the hem, and began shifting to take on the new color. At the shoulder, the fabric sharply merged from black to emerald green, spreading across her shoulders. A grey turtleneck materialized, peeking out from under the suit jacket, and four rank pips whispered into existence. On the other shoulder, the green shifted back to black, and raced down her arm, terminating at the wrist. In the meantime, a wave of black flowed down her torso, pausing briefly at the waistline to jump to her pants. As the wave of black resumed it's course, the casual jeans changed, becoming a pair of neatly creased slacks. The well-worn tennis shoes warped for a moment, taking on a shiny black covering, and shifting to become formal dress shoes. A hand phaser materialized in a small holster on the right side, while a science tricorder filled a pocket on the left, completing the transformation of her clothes.

Then Cameron herself began changing, and the uniform adapted fluidly with her as she became taller. Within moments, she had high cheekbones, and her warm hazel eyes changed tint, becoming a striking green that sparkled with mischief and matched her jacket's shoulders perfectly. Her mousy auburn hair, which had been kept somewhat short, lengthened luxuriously, and shifted to jet black. A short loop of leather bound her hair into a loose ponytail at the base of her head.

She examined her hands, front and back, then looked up at Alex. "Well, that was certainly interesting." she said. Her eyes closed for a moment, then opened again, a new intelligence shining brightly from sparkling emerald depths.

"You remind me of someone…" she said softly, walking closer to Alex.

The young warlock gulped slightly. "Yes." he said softly. "I remind you of Ajax, do I not?"

"How do you know that?" she demanded.

"Because I created you, and I created Ajax. I also aided in the creation of Devin Powers." Alex replied.

Her gaze turned murderous. "Why?" she demanded.

"Will you accept my words as truth?" Alex replied. "If not, then I do not know how to explain it to you in a way that you will accept."

"I will hear your words, then render judgment."

"Good." Alex said. "You are Amaranth, a dragon capable of taking human form. You are bonded with Ajax, who was one of the few who survived the destruction Archangel Project. He was later inducted into the Perseverance Project because of his tenacity. He passed a written test, then later passed a basic survival test, and was placed in cryostasis. The plan was to revive him, and continue experimenting when the political scene became more accepting of genetic research of this type.

You on the other hand, managed to stay under the radar until the year 2020, when you were captured attempting to break into an Itex office in search of your partner's whereabouts. You were placed in cryo as a means to get you out of the way, and eventually, and man named Hank Algren found you and had you thawed out. He recruited you into the FSB, and eventually sent you to find Chakotay, on Earth-2. Chakotay aimed a phaser at you, and you nearly attacked, but had a flashback to the time when you were being tutored by a Vulcan named Sajah."

"How do you know all this?" Amaranth demanded.

"I'm a writer and a warlock. Not just that, but I'm the person that wrote YOU into existence." Alex replied. "I've followed your adventures in my mind, and it is only now that you have existed outside of a text document on a server, or outside of the confines of my mind."

"Then, to gain me freedom from you…" Amaranth trailed off, and drew her phaser. "I have but to kill you."

"I would prefer you didn't fire." Alex said levelly. "It only works at the stun level, but I'm still in no mood to be hit by it."

Amaranth narrowed her eyes, but returned the phaser to it's place. "Why have you brought me here?" she asked at last.

"Because I want to make a TV show." Alex replied.

"So you want me to perform for you?" she asked. "I'll not do it."

"Why not?" Alex demanded.

"I am a dragon, and you expect me to perform like some sort of toy for you?" Amaranth retorted.

"I created you." Alex snapped. "I could undo you very easily."

"But you will not." Amaranth replied. "I may be human in form, but my crystal fire still works."

"On most things, yes." Alex replied. "But not on myself. I have taken measures to protect myself, in the event of a situation like this. I may be young, but I am not stupid."

Amaranth looked at Alex for several moments, a small war taking place in her mind. Eventually, she said "What do you require?"

"I just need you to make a stealth landing." Alex said.

Amaranth cast a glance at Alex, but leapt straight up. As she reached the apex of her jump, her form shifted, skin and clothing merging to become stunningly green scales that were as hard as diamond. She circled as she climbed, quickly gaining altitude, leaving Alex to set up the camera.

When he was finished, he switched the camera on, and aimed it into the sky, where Amaranth was circling.

"_Am I to land now?"_ she asked, a slight tone of condescension hidden in her voice.

"Yes." Alex replied, tracking the green dragon.

She seemed to rotate in the air, not falling, then suddenly, Amaranth was hurtling out of the sky. She flawlessly pulled out of her dive, and circled twice at low altitude before she swooped close to the ground. When her massively clawed feet were two feet away from touching, she seemed to ripple in the sunlight, and Amaranth was back in her human form, landing lightly on the ground.

The blinking red light switched off, and Alex stood upright again. "Thank you." he said.

"Why did you not tell me that there was another entity in my mind?" Amaranth asked.

"Because she's the host." Alex replied.

Amaranth looked herself over. "No, I look like me." she said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, because of the bracelet." Alex explained. "You see, everything that makes you who and what you are is on the bracelet. The host put on the bracelet and was changed to match you…on the outside, anyway. Her mind was simply pushed to the side, as an observer. She felt everything you felt, heard everything you heard, saw everything you saw, even heard all your thoughts. Cameron can't actually take control until the bracelet is removed again."

"So, I remove this bracelet, and my entire existence is tied up inside of it?" Amaranth asked.

"No." Alex replied. "You already exist. The bracelet is simply an enabler that allows for your existence in this reality."

"Then I would like to return to my own reality." Amaranth said. With that, she removed the bracelet.

"Oi, I look good!" Cameron said, looking at herself.

"Not for long." Alex replied. "That will wear off in about fifteen seconds."

As Alex spoke, the long black hair returned to it's previously short length, reverting to mousy brown. Within moments, Cameron was back to her old self, including her clothing. "Too good to hope for, I guess." she said sadly.

"Some adjustments could be made, if you wanted, but Amaranth's character is a dead ringer for Anette Olzon. You'd know her from Nightwish, if the name rang any bells." Alex said. "When I was obtaining a picture for the bracelet, I promised that whoever was using it would only be using it on set."

"Alright, well that was certainly a lot of fun." Cameron said. "Can I go back home now?"

"Actually, if you aren't opposed, I'd like to do a second out-take, if you are willing to operate the camera?" Alex said.

"Okay." Cameron said. "But let's get this done quick. I didn't set my TiVo to record the _Simpsons_, and I don't want to miss it."

Alex chuckled, and Cameron huffed slightly. "It's important to me." she said, mock complaining.

"Alright, I'll make this quick."

Alex promised. He pulled out a string that had probably been white long ago. A key dangled from it, glinting brightly in the sun. Once it was around his neck, and securely tucked under his shirt, his clothes began to change. The shirt developed a pair of hemmed slits in the back, and became longer. Likewise, the slacks he'd been wearing became a mildly battered pair of blue jeans. The classy black shoes became worn hiking shoes, and a heavy-duty cloak unfurled from his shoulders.

Underneath the cloak, a pair of wings grew out, as Alex gained three inches in height. He blinked a few times, refocusing, as his eyesight became sharper, and his neatly trimmed hair became somewhat longer, standing up and back in a perpetually windswept style.

His eyes closed, and they opened again, Alex had been replaced with Ajax. He looked at the piece of paper in his hand, and nodded softly.

"It is my pleasure to meet you, Cameron." Ajax said, holding out his hand to shake. "My name is Ajax, and I'm here for a brief scene, specifically, a flyby."

"A flyby?" Cameron repeated.

"Not to be confused with a Flyboy." Ajax replied merrily. He pointed up the valley. "I'm going to be flying from there to…" he pointed down the valley "there. My pass will take me about ten feet off to the side of your camera position." He unclasped his cloak. "I'll leave this here." he said, folding the heavy fabric. "I don't typically fly with it, and only really use it for formal occasions."

After he had set it down, he jumped upwards, vigorously pounding the air with his wings. From tip to tip, he had a twenty-foot span, and every inch of it was being used for takeoff.

Once he'd stabilized, he began flying up the valley, before turning around, and flying back the way he'd come. The pass was low, and relatively slow, considering his top speed, then he turned back to land nearby.

He quickly removed the key from around his neck, and began walking back towards Cameron, ignoring the changes that were occurring.

"Did you get a good flyby?" Alex asked, beginning to pack up the camera.

"Yeah, it was great!" Cameron replied. "You know, I never thought I'd be working a camera."

"You won't be working a camera." Alex replied. "Not if this goes through. There is one other thing though…"

Their surroundings shifted, and they were back in Cameron's apartment, though Alex continued talking as if nothing had happened. "Voyager ran fifteen episodes in the first season. I'll be doing the same, to make it more attractive to Paramount. The next season, they ran twenty-six episodes. At best, you'll be appearing at the tail-end of the second season. I'm really sorry about that."

"Why wait until second season?" Cameron asked.

"Well, I'm not the writer. However, you've got a good backstory that's I've helped to create."

"Oh?" Cameron asked, flipping on the TV.

"Yeah, you've got a _Defiant-_class starship that can be controlled with your mind, and has an entity living inside of the computer banks, essentially serving as an A.I. You had a run-in with Q, meditation lessons with a Vulcan who's actually somewhat warm, and were tasked with following Chakotay to Earth-2. If you want to know more, read _The Path of Destiny_ by RobertCanary. For a look at what's going on in Exodus, you can read his story, _Star Trek: Exodus._ They are both quite good, though _Path of Destiny_ is massive…382 chapters at last count, and it's not done yet." Alex stopped speaking, and checked his watch. "I need to get going." he said. "Have fun watching the _Simpsons_." With that, he was gone.

=/\=

_A/N: Well. Sorry for taking so long, real life happened, something hit the fan, and things got busy. I've had this ready for a while, aside from some editing, but didn't have the time to finish and post it, which I'm doing now. As always, review, and I'll get back to you!_

_A/R:_

_stephanopolos: I'm glad for you. Care to elaborate a little next time?_


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